i bought my truck already bagged and fully shaved about a year and a half ago, since then i have been redoing everything. here are pics with sub titles...

these next pics are what she looked like when i got her...









later i found out that the wiring under the dash was completely hacked, i ended up replacing all the wiring...




i installed some harley mirrors that destroyed my doors later. so i eventually pulled them off and fixed the doors and installed factory mirors, pics on the factory mirrors in a moment



then i bought a parts truck and put the stock front end back on her. i love the factory front end on these babies



then i had a bad night! i was having problems keeping the battery charged. went through hell trying to figure it out. but in the process, i was test driving her one night only to have her shut down again. so i pulled her into a gas station and called the wife to pick me up. i went home and grabbed the trailer. when i came back to load her up (all by myself, no big deal) i was backing up and ran over one of the manhole covers (like everyone else does), only this one wasn't locked! it flipped up and my driverside wheel fell in, the cover slapped my bedside and the ground bent my lower 4 link bar. buddy of mine came out and helped me get the truck out of the hole and the gas stations insurance company wrote me a nice little check!





 

before all this though, i took her to texmex 07' to meet up with the orginal guy that bagged her. at this time all i had done was the harley mirrors and a skull interior mirror. here she is in mini truckin...


ok, then i fully shaved the dash and had it painted by a buddy of mine. i also got rid of the gay flame shift knob and got a nice little skull



then we bought a house with a nice garage and now i can really play! this is all in no particular order cause things are always chaoss around here and i get extremely busy...
i pulled the bed off


pulled the engine for a rebuild



and found out there was paint all over the place on the inside of the engine, sucks!


so i had some parts sand blasted and repainted everything after masking it all off!







my future exhaust which is now installed...



3 angle valve job, new valve seals, decked, pressure tested, everything went over with a fine tooth comb




and then reassembled

 

getting ready for texmex 08'




redid the rear bag setup





got rid of the little baby firstone bags and replaced with re7s

here are my kids holding the re7s




relocated the battery from the firewall to the bed area (the original owner relocated it from the original spot to the firewall but you could only put a very small battery in the location, which was part of my electrical problem from earlier). i also painted the driveshaft to match the engine


i also had the oil pan and exhaust manifold sandblasted and then i repainted them as well




i also had to redo the tunnel for the driveshaft, it was hitting (no bueno!)


i don't have any pics of the tunnel after i finished it though. i will take some when i redo everything again. haha

then i installed the stock bench seat from my parts truck which required me to raise the seat mounts an inch so that i could clear the driveshaft tunnel



and the dash in my parts truck was mint! so i put it in to give it that old school feel...



got a new switch box that i almost got arrested for once...


then sanded and primered black








and then i installed some fender emblems


and here she is at texmex 08'
 

so after texmex 08' i became a member of SUNSET Texas chapter, a new chapter of SUNSET. right now there are only 5 of us. haha. but that motivated the hell out of me to do more. so one of my good buds and a SUNSET member (the guy that got me in) Beau Martin motivated me to get my bed on and get her ready for texas showdown. so i did...





i also through down some scallops on the hood


and painted the wheels red


and then with all my luck as usuall, she got wrecked, by a guy i work with. he hit me in the parking lot at work about 2 weeks before texas showdown...



it even ripped my bag!


so back to sanding i went again!




the fenders that were on the truck when i got it were fully shaved. i wanted the original side markers so i used the fenders off my parts truck the first time i primered her black. but the driverside got trashed in the accident so i had to use the fully shaved fenders. but i still wanted the side markers. so i cut out a section of the trashed fender and flatened it back out and welded it into the shaved fenders and put the side markers back in...

shaved fender...

wrecked fender...





and i decided to throw some scallops on the sides as well and paint the mazda logo on the tailgate...








after all the hard work i took 3rd at texas showdown 08" in the under construction class



here are me and my homies screwing around after the show, without them motivation wouldn't exist. haha. left to right is Beau Martin, David Garza, and me


and i ordered a new grille cause the other one was trashed, plus this one has the chrome trim. i still need to order a chrome bumper or make one. i only straightened the wrecked on a little but i want a chrome one eventually

here is how she looks now

 

hey dude.. nice to see you over here.. i love your truck.. yours and mine are so close to the same idea.. and the best part is they look completely different what says to me that these trucks  are what ever you can imagine them...  ( your body work kicks the *** out of mine) ..lol..

you have to let me know what your plans are next.. and when you plan on BD her...

add me to msn .. if thats not creepy..LOL.
rangerstill2hi@hotmail.com

steve  

Maztang your pictures and commentary were quite enjoyable - duuuude that manhole incident must have made for a bad night - at least you got pictures of it! I have imagined that happening, but never actually seen pictures.
nice truck! keep us updated!!  

thanks guys. steve, i don't have msn but i am always on the bscene. i will hit you up on there to bs. i love the old school trucks man. and yours is freakin badass man!

5569-thanks man. right now she is sittin in the garage again, broke as usual! tranny went out so she is on blocks at the moment. i pulled the tranny out of my parts truck and getting a buddy of mine to go through it this weekend. and i to have always thought about how much it would suck if one of those manhole covers popped up on someone. to damn bad that someone was me. hahahaha

i swear this thing has more trailer time than drive time! seems like everything i haven't gone through is what keeps breaking so that's a good sign i guess. haha. i wasn't going to touch the tranny until i came back from overseas from a contract job but i don't have an official date on leaving yet so i said the hell with it and i am going to get it back on the road again before i leave. i will keep you guys updated though.  

crazy bro.. mine is the same way, everything i havent touched is what  is kickin my butt.. i made it to one show before the engine took a poop on me..lol..  the tranny seems  good though.. but i plan on a 2.3 turbo ..  but the truck is a lawn knome now..... piss me off.. lookin for a new engine  you know of any b1800 layin around..lol  

uummm... those bag brakets look fimilar lol  They do look good if I do say so myself hahaha  

did they come from you?  

Yeah those are mine  

well, i finally finished remodeling my oldest daughters bedroom and got her moved in so now it is time to get back on the truck again. i yanked the engine and tranny the other night. i was going to just drop the tranny but the way we routed the exhaust it was either cut my beautiful exhaust setup off or yank the engine. and it only takes about 30 minutes to pull this engine out so i went that route. and it is a good thing i did. i saw my problem as soon as it was out. the clutch was completely sheared away. there are no burn marks or anything like that, it just sheared.    so i went ahead and got a new one on order and i will be ordering my tranny rebuild kit tomorrow so i can go ahead and throw all new bearings and seals in and slap this beast back together and get back to some serious dragging    

love the truck man  

sweet dude.. nice to hear your payin her some love..  i  have mine apart right now also.. solved al my air leak problems..  moved my exuast up 3 inches...  ill still drag muffler but there just isnt enought room inbetween the cab floor and the bottom of the frame for a magnaflow.. might have to go with a flowmaster, they are a half inch smaller hieght wise.... just pulling off the head and noticed teh timmng chain must have been off.. i have a slight score mark on the top of my piston and a shiny spot on my  exhuast valve.. so ill get that taken care of this week.. its funny how you always find problems that need to be fied  at 530 on a friday night   and all the machine shops are closed for the weekend  at 5... next i want to adress my door situation.. the driverside door is really sticky.. i could never shave it in the condition its in.. some times it opens fine.. most times i really have to yank on t.. im hopping its just a matter of ajusting the  handle or release... we will see....

i love that your a picture *** wish i was..LOL

steve
( p.s. keep up the good work..  any questiosn about  moving stuff  for your body drop let me know.. ( brake master and your steering box  will touch.... {on a 4 inch BD})  

sup!!! so what's the latest? Is it back together?